INCHON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: SUBGRADE REINFORCEMENT WITH GEOGRIDS

This paper describes the technical solutions that were adopted for the reinforcement of the airport runways of the new International Airport of Inchon, South Korea. The reinforcement is provided by bioriented Polipropylene geogrids. Since many concrete box culverts had to be built below the surface, the possibility of tension cracking of the pavement was considered. A Finite Element Method analysis was performed in order to assess the capacity of the geogrids to reinforce the base and reduce cracking around the culverts. Tensile strength tests were performed on the geogrids in order to evaluate the chemical resistance of the geogrids when in contact with the cement treated sub-base. Since both the sub-base layer and the lean concrete layer were spread by the finisher, also the possibility of installation damage to the geogrids was considered. For the covering abstract see ITRD E109917.